TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

JOSS WHEDON TO RETURN FOR THE AVENGERS 2

Walt Disney Studios head
Bob Iger announced during an earnings call with analysts that Joss Whedon will return to write and direct The Avengers 2.

Whedon will also develop a Marvel television series for ABC that will be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

A release date for The Avengers as not been released yet, but it will presumbaly come after the already announced Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013), Thor: The Dark World (Nov. 8, 2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4, 2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1, 2014).

The Avengers is the third top-grossing movie of all time, trailing only Avatar and Titanic. The film has brought in $616.7 million domestically and $1.461 billion worldwide.

IDW PUBLISHING FIRST LOOKS

For covers and eight-page previews of IDW Publishing titles, arriving in stores on August 8, CLICK HERE.

Titles include Deadworld: War of the Dead #2, Godzilla: The Half-Century War #1, KISS #3, Magic: The Gathering - The Spell Thief #2 and Transformers: Robots in Disguise #8.

ARCHAIA COMICS FIRST LOOKS

For covers and five-page preview of Mouse Guard: The Black Axe #5, arriving in stores on August 8 from Archaia Comics, CLICK HERE.

For previews of Marvel Comics titles arriving in stores on August 8, CLICK HERE.

For previews of Image Comics titles arriving in stores on August 8, CLICK HERE.

For previews of Oni Press titles arriving in stores on August 8, CLICK HERE.

For previews of Dark Horse Comics titles arriving in stores on August 8, CLICK HERE.

For previews of BOOM! Studios titles arriving in stores on August 8, CLICK HERE.

DC COMICS FIRST LOOKS - UPDATED!

For covers and three- to five-page previews of DC Comics titles, arriving in stores on August 8, CLICK HERE.

THOR: GOD OF THUNDER

Marvel Comics has unveiled the first cover and details about Thor: God of Thunder, the Marvel NOW! series that premieres in November.

The series is written by Jason Aaron, with art by Esad Ribic.

Here's how Marvel describes the series:

"Throughout the ages, the gods of the Marvel Universe have been vanishing, their mortal worshippers left in chaos. NOW! the Mighty Thor follows a trail of blood that threatens to consume his past, present and future selves. The only hope for these ravaged worlds lies with the God of Thunder unraveling the gruesome mystery of the God Butcher!"

"Thor, by definition, demands stories of a grand scale," Aaron said. "This story spans millennia -- from the Viking Age to the far flung future. And it takes us all across the Marvel Universe as well. From Earth to the far corners of space, and from all new otherworldly cities of gods to an Asgard like we've never seen before, we definitely cover a lot of ground in our initial arc."

BRIEFLY

* Encore will stage a marathon of super-hero movies on Monday, Sept. 3.

The lineup features Flash Gordon at midnight, The Shadow at 2 a.m., Spawn at 3:50 a.m., Darkman at 5:35 a.m., Hulk at 7:20 a.m., The Green Hornet at 9:45 a.m., Superman at 11:45 a.m., Superman II at 2:10 p.m., Superman III at 4:20 p.m., Superman IV: The Quest for Peace at 6:30 p.m., The Green Hornet at 8 p.m. and Batman Returns at 10 a.m.

OCTOBER SOLICITATIONS ROUNDUP

For previously posted October solicitations, click on the publishers' names below: